Determination of the Dielectric Tensor of a Chiral Smectic Liquid Crystal

Abstract

The temperature dependencies of the principal values of the dielectric constant tensor ₁, ₂, ₃; the helical pitch P and the tilt angle θ of a chiral smectic phase have been obtained (for the first time) from measurements of the temperature dependencies of the refractive indices for linearly and circularly polarized light and from the wavelength of the Bragg reflection maximum.

Key Words:

• chiral smectic
• dielectric tensor
• helical pitch
• refractive index